It has been observed that circuits located along edge of the die often perform better than circuits located in the center. One reason is the increasing size and complexity of integrated circuits hampers the ability to distribute power to circuits in the center of the die. This is especially true in advanced technologies with smaller feature sizes and decreasing supply voltages. The conducting lines used to route power throughout the integrated circuit have low resistance, but this resistance becomes significant over long lengths. The resistance in long routing lines causes resistive power drops and the voltage at a given point is a function of the distance away from the bonding pads providing power.
Since most integrated circuits are configured with bonding pads providing power and ground located along the four edges of the die, circuits located at the center of the die may receive significantly reduced voltage compared to circuits located closer to the bonding pads. In addition, the reduction in supply voltage from the edge to the center of the die also depends on the number of circuits drawing power at a given time.
In extreme cases, a large reduction in the voltage to a circuit could cause a circuit to become non-functional. One approach to work around the issue of providing the supply voltage to circuits located in the center of the die is the use of software to optimize the number of circuits located at the edges of the die, but this approach does not address the root cause of the power distribution problem.
It is in this context that embodiments of the invention arise.